Central Platte Valley's MetroBoom brings SaaS-like model to "personal branding center"

MetroBoom takes a distinctive approach to men's hair and clothing that's rooted in branding and subscription-based service models.

Founder Jung Park came to Denver by way of his native South Korea and New York City and worked in web development for and branding before getting his MBA at CU Denver in 2004.

"MetroBoom was the business plan for a class I was taking," he says. "When I first moved out here, I could not get a good haircut, and Asian hair is hard to cut." 

 

He entered the plan in the Bard Center Business Plan Competition and launched the company later in 2004. "If it wasn't for that competition, I wouldn't be here right now. It really does change lives."

 

After working for Denver branding firm Monigle Associates in the early 2000s, Park "realized there was such a thing as personal branding," he says. "Branding goes deeper than pretty colors." Park calls the broader phenomenon "holistic branding" and "experiential branding."

 

"I approached it from a more pedestrian route, which is hair and clothing," he says. He now calls the eight-employee MetroBoom a "personal branding center" after previously dubbing it a "style salon" and a "style center."

 

While MetroBoom never turns away one-off clients, his primary push is annual subscription packages for haircuts ($350 for 12) and custom dress shirts ($600 for seven) as Park himself offers personal brand consulting to a wide variety of clients.

 

"People come in and say, 'I'm in a rut here. I need to make a change,'" says Park. He says most clients come in for career reasons, but he has several clients looking for a social upgrade -- i.e. more and better dates. "But it's the same idea in the professional world," he adds. "Why are you in the same job?"

 

Park says he is looking to launch "MetroBoom 2.0" in 2014, an expansion possibly entailing coworking space, massage and possibly a bar. "We're hosting focus groups with five clients at a time, asking, 'What else would you like us to offer?'"

Contact Confluence Denver Innovation & Jobs News Editor Eric Peterson with tips and leads for future stories at eric@confluence-denver.com.